Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Empirate" data-source="post: 6149957" data-attributes="member: 78958">Bards are excellent buffers and can be decent secondary or out-of-combat healers. At 1st level, there's only so much you can do, though, so don't expect to become a powerful addition to your party (in combat, that is) until a bit later. E.g., you don't even gain 1st level spells until you level up. That said, I think Bards are one of the most interesting base classes, and I've certainly had a lot of fun with Bards.On to the crunchy:You want to buff, and Bards do that well. Pick up the <a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/eberron-campaign-setting--12/song-of-the-heart--2675/" target="_blank">Song of the Heart</a> feat at level 3, if you can, it makes your Inspire Courage ability much better. Also, get a <a href="http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/amaranthia/items/badge-of-valor" target="_blank">Badge of Valor</a> at the first opportunity. If you really want to crank this up, <a href="http://www.realmshelps.net/cgi-bin/featbox.pl?feat=Words_of_Creation" target="_blank">Words of Creation</a> is your 6th level feat (look into Book of Exalted Deeds to see how this works; basically you take piddly nonlethal damage to double your Inspire Courage bonus, after other modifiers).Another interesting feat to look into would be <a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/dragon-magic--62/dragonfire-inspiration--733/" target="_blank">Dragonfire Inspiration</a>, which changes the morale bonus to attacks from Inspire Courage into lots and lots of bonus damage. It requires you to be of the dragonblood subtype, but there's ways to become that, like the <a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/dragon-magic--62/dragontouched--747/" target="_blank">Dragontouched</a> feat, which also has other, minor benefits.So between some of the Inspire Courage options and your spells, buffing ought to be covered. On to healing. Unfortunately, Bards aren't the greatest healers out there. Sure, there's the Healing Hymn alternate class feature from Complete Champion (look at it <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?224356-Healing-Hymn-Alt-Bard-Class-Feature-%28Clarification%29" target="_blank">here</a>). But that one merely makes people who are already good at healing much better at it. You won't be spending your own spell slots on cure spells, that'd be a waste. It's not a bad ACF, but it takes away your Fascinate and Suggestion bardic music abilities (by RAW, it only takes away Fascinate, so to use Suggestion, you might find other ways to fascinate people first, like dipping <a href="http://dndtools.eu/classes/virtuoso/" target="_blank">Virtuoso</a> later on). That's a lot of your out-of-combat goodness gone for a little healing, so I'd pass.Picking Cure Light Wounds for a 1st level spell is good enough as a fallback option, especially at very low levels, when this spell can still save lives. But all you really need is a wand, and that's very cheap anyway. In fact, it's a recommended first purchase for your party at 2nd level! Efficient healing for recovering from multiple combats.Another option for saving lives is the <a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/dragon-magic--62/draconic-aura--696/" target="_blank">Draconic Aura</a> feat, picking the Vigor aura. This provides an aura that gives fast healing to your whole party, but only heals up to half HP. If you took Dragontouched for DFI, you're already of the dragonblood subtype, so this pays even better dividends (might also want to look at other draconic auras in this case). Basically a lifesaver for everybody going below 0 HP, and limitless out-of-combat healing, but you'll want a wand regardless, to top off the frontliners.A similar thing is possible with the <a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-champion--57/touch-of-healing--2940/" target="_blank">Touch of Healing</a> reserve feat. It requires at least a 2nd level healing spell, so can't be picked before level 6, unless you also get the <a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-arcane--55/precocious-apprentice--2236/" target="_blank">Precocious Apprentice</a> feat, choosing Cure Moderate Wounds. That way, you can heal people up to half HP from 1st level. IMO this option is inferior to the Dragonic Aura (which only takes one feat), but has the advantage that it only uses Complete material, not Dragon Magic which some DMs find iffy.Finally, generic bardic goodness:<a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-mage--58/melodic-casting--1918/" target="_blank">Melodic Casting</a> grants two powerful abilities (using Perform instead of Concentration, and keeping up bardic music while casting/using items) and is of great use to any bard. <a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/eberron-campaign-setting--12/extra-music--1025/" target="_blank">Extra Music</a> might be needed to cover the early levels; it also helps if you want to use <a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-adventurer--54/lyric-spell--1811/" target="_blank">Lyric Spell</a> for more spell slots (which can be very good). <a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/book-of-exalted-deeds--52/nymphs-kiss--2073/" target="_blank">Nymph's Kiss</a> provides lots of benefits; it's almost too good to pass up if you can get access to it. <a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-divine--56/arcane-disciple--92/" target="_blank">Arcane Disciple</a> can be used to get very good spells on your spell list, but beware the Wis requirement and other limitations. Finally, <a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/champions-of-ruin--27/doomspeak--686/" target="_blank">Doomspeak</a> is one of the most powerful debuffs in the game, don't overlook this! Requires you to be non-good, though, which precludes Words of Creation.Class-wise, staying pure Bard isn't horrible. <a href="http://dndtools.eu/classes/lyric-thaumaturge/" target="_blank">Lyric Thaumaturge</a> always makes good filler for Bard builds; you get  slightly less skillpoints, and your music doesn't get better (although  you get more uses/day), but your spells/day and spells known get a nice  boost. <a href="http://dndtools.eu/classes/sublime-chord/" target="_blank">Sublime Chord</a> is the holy grail of many a bard build, but your game will likely end before you get there, and the prereqs are strenuous to meet, so just keep it in mind should your game become longer.If you're of good alignment, you'll want to do either that or go into Virtuoso (especially if you're using Healing Hymn), for more and different bardic music. Good alignment lets you take Nymph's Kiss and Words of Creation, two very powerful feats, IF you can use Book of Exalted Deeds.If you're non-good, there are other good options: Dipping a level of Mindbender for Telepathy 100' is great (also helps your diplomacy and Suggestions and the like), and using that to power <a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/lords-of-madness--72/mindsight--1960/" target="_blank">Mindsight</a> is just disgustingly good. Being non-good also allows Doomspeak. I actually like the non-good variety better, I think... Anyway, Virtuoso is a good option for non-good Bards, too, although you'll be slightly less music-focused.Whew, long post, lots of good options for Bards. Hope this helps!</blockquote>

Verification